Suharyadi disagree on Pelti's coaching selection

JAKARTA (JP): National tennis coach Suharyadi is worried about the Indonesian Tennis Association's (Pelti) decision on the process for the selection of coaches for preparations for the 20th Southeast Asian Games in August in Brunei Darussalam.

Suharyadi, who coaches Indonesia's No. 1 women's player Wynne Prakusya, said on Tuesday the decision could create new conflicts because players only had one month to adjust to their new coaches.

Pelti decided to appoint two coaches each for the men's and women's squad and a head coach to supervise the whole training program. The appointment will be conducted after the three-day national selection of players starting on June 23.

Suharyadi said: "Players need time to adapt to new coaches because they have been preparing themselves for months with their own coaches. It's not easy for both sides to get along well. It will be a waste of time if the players protest and can't accept new coaches."

He said new coaches must understand the characters of their athletes, and that this took time. He also suggested that Pelti pick the right players and improve their performance before leaving for the Games, which start on Aug. 7 and end on Aug. 15.

"Each coach must prepare training programs for their athletes. It will be too late if Pelti wants to select them all in the last month."

Suharyadi said that he was ready to be substituted if he failed in the selection.

"I don't have any problems if Pelti replaces me. But I remind Pelti that we have been applying our programs for two months. Why should they bother to replace us with only one month left?"

Pelti spokesman Benny Mailili said Pelti would invite 10 coaches -- Suharyadi, Wailan Walalangi, Deddy Prasetyo, Atet Wiyono, Diko M., Suzanna Anggarkusuma, Tintus Arianto Wibowo, Hadiman, Yosafat Sihombing and Soegiharso -- to present their training programs, based on sports science, in a meeting. Suharyadi's wife, Yayuk Basuki, was not included in the 10 nominees. Yayuk is a former world top player and the 1998 Asian Games gold medalist.

"All coaches have coaching licenses," Benny was quoted by Media Indonesia as saying.

Suharyadi said he could not give a prediction for the number of medals the teams could win in the Games because he had not yet studied the national players' strengths.

"We can estimate a medal target when Pelti has set up the national team," he said, adding that the strong contenders would come from Thailand, including men's singles Paradorn Srichaphan, women's singles Tamarine Tanasugarn and men's double Paradorn and Narathorn Srichaphan, who won the men's double medals in 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. (ivy)